“Still never a local without a local <i>hukou</i> ”: <i>hukou</i> stickiness and rural–urban migrants’ lived experiences of reform in China’s Pearl River Delta

China’s mass rural - urban migration has been shaped by successive <i>hukou</i> reforms since 1978, particularly in major migrant destinations, such as the Pearl River Delta (PRD). While existing studies document the institutional design and uneven outcomes of <i>hukou</i> reform, less attention has been paid to how migrants themselves understand and navigate these changes in everyday life. This paper addresses the gap by examining <i>hukou</i> reform through the analytical lens of <i>hukou</i> stickiness, defined as the persistent and adhesive coupling between <i>hukou </i>status and access to urban benefits (<i>fuli</i>) despite formal reform efforts. Drawing on qualitative interviews and focus group discussions with rural-urban migrants in the PRD, the study shows that <i>hukou</i> stickiness continues to structure access to housing, education, and social security, shaping migrants’ settlement intentions and life trajectory planning. Reform unpredictability, inconsistent local implementation, and bureaucratic rigidity reinforce uncertainty, leading migrants to anticipate future exclusion or policy reversal. In response, migrants adopt various strategic behaviors. The findings demonstrate that <i>hukou</i> stickiness operates as a key mechanism mediating reform outcomes at the local level. Rather than simply coexisting with reform, <i>hukou</i> filters through decentralised governance and migrants’ anticipatory behavior, helping to explain why reforms often weaken formal barriers without producing transformative urban benefits and settlement outcomes in the PRD and beyond.